Profile of Otto Preminger on Famous Like Me

Otto Ludwig Preminger (December 5, 1906 – April 23, 1986) was a film director. Born in Vienna, of assimilated Jewish ancestry, he worked with Max Reinhardt before emigrating to America. At first he directed and acted for 20th Century Fox, his Austrian accent typecasting him as a screen Nazi.

After the war, he became one of the most consistent Hollywood directors of the 1950s and early 1960s — delivering intelligent and entertaining films, often literary adaptations, albeit rather melodramatic or heavy-going on occasion.

He was known as a stern, forbidding character, similar to Erich von Stroheim and Fritz Lang in fulfilling the stereotype of a demanding Germanic film director. He was well-respected by some, but was often antagonistic towards his actors: Dyan Cannon once commented that she didn't think "he was capable of directing his nephew to the bathroom."

Notable films include Anatomy of a Murder with James Stewart and Ben Gazzara, Advise and Consent with an on-form Charles Laughton, and Bonjour Tristesse with David Niven and Deborah Kerr.

In the 1960s Batman television series, Otto was one of three actors who played Mr. Freeze.

Through a relationship with Gypsy Rose Lee he had one child, the screenwriter Erik Lee Preminger.

Otto Preminger died in 1986 and was interred in the Woodlawn Cemetery, The Bronx, New York.

Filmography

• Die große Liebe (1931)
• Under Your Spell (1936)
• Danger, Love at Work (1937)
• Clare Booth Luce's Margin for Error (U.S.) aka Margin for Error (UK) (1943)
• In the Meantime, Darling (1944)
• Laura (1944)
• A Royal Scandal (U.S.) aka Czarina (UK) (1945)
• Fallen Angel (1945)
• Forever Amber (1947)
• Daisy Kenyon (1947)
• The Fan (U.S.) aka Lady Windermere's Fan (UK) (1949)
• Whirlpool (1950)
• Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
• The 13th Letter (1951)
• Angel Face (1952)
• The Moon is Blue (1953)
• Carmen Jones (1954)
• River of No Return (1954)
• The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (U.S.) aka One Man Mutiny (UK) (1955)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (1956)
• Saint Joan (1957)
• Bonjour Tristesse (1958)
• Porgy and Bess (1959)
• Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
• Exodus (1960)
• Advise and Consent (1962)
• The Cardinal (1963)
• In Harm's Way (1964)
• Bunny Lake is Missing (1965)
• Hurry Sundown (1967)
• Tell Me That You Love Me (1968)
• Skidoo (1968)
• Such Good Friends (1971)
• Rosebud (1975)
• The Human Factor (1979)

Awards

Preminger received one Oscar nomination for Best Picture for Anatomy of a Murder. He was twice nominated for the best director award for Laura and for The Cardinal.

External Links

• Otto Preminger's Entry in the Internet Movie Database

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